Download “A Midsummer Night`s Dream”. High sch

The Inner City Shakespeare Ensemble is now casting for it’s spring performance of “A
Midsummer Night’s Dream”. High school students from all corners of Los Angeles are
encouraged to submit for a chance to audition.
Below you will find all the details about the project, and at the very bottom are instructions on
how to submit. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me with the word: QUESTION
in the subject line (so I know whether or not it's a submission). Thank you so much!
Sincerely,
Leslie
[email protected]
(323) 250-3983 (Google Voice)
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Name of Production Company: Inner City Shakespeare Ensemble
Director: Dr. Melanie Andrews
Producer: Paul Heller, Katy Haber
Casting Director: Leslie Brown
Project Title: “A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM”, by William Shakespeare
Project Synopsis: “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” William Shakespeare's most popular comedy, was
written around 1594 or 95. It portrays the adventures of four young lovers and a group of amateur actors,
their interactions with woodland fairies and a duke and duchess. Taking place in a mythical Athens and
an enchanted forest, there is a handsome fairy king, a misguided parent, star-crossed lovers, a weaver
who's transformed into a half-donkey, wood sprites and elves. This work is widely performed around the
world, and no wonder - it's about the world's most popular pastime, falling in love. But as Puck knows,
falling in love can make fools of us all."
Project Notes:
The mission of the Inner City Shakespeare Ensemble is to bring our students into the world of theater
using Shakespeare’ s ageless language and eloquent dramatic insight into people and events. With the
support of professional mentors they are able to realize their own special talents and perform with style
and substance. Barriers of ethnicities are erased as our Ensemble explores the 17th Century world of the
Bard.
In 2013 because of the phenomenal success of those past productions, and the impact they had on the
lives of the students the LAUSD asked The Ensemble to expand the program to other schools. This
culminated in two separate productions of Twelfth Night At George Washington High school, LA High
School and two performances at the FigAt7th Downtown Festival on July 27th 2013, sponsored by Arts
Brookfield.
For the 2014 spring production of William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, The Inner City
Shakespeare Ensemble is proud to announce the collaboration from BritWeek, BAFTA LA, the LAUSD
Arts Ed (http://arts.lausd.net/), The Music Center, LA County Parks & Recreation, The Shakespeare
Center of Los Angeles, and the Independent Shakespeare Company. This year’s mentors include
Anthony Armatrading (Royal Shakespeare Company), Suzan Crowley (Bristol Old Vic), Rob Clare
(Julliard).
Audition Dates:
Nov. 2nd, 2013: Nate Holden Performing Arts Center, 4718 West Washington Boulevard,
Los Angeles, CA 90016
Nov. 9th, 2013: J.E.T. Studios, 5126 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood, CA 91206
Dec. 7th, 2013: (10a-1pm) Boyle Heights Technology Youth Center, 1600 E 4th St Los
Angeles, CA 90033
Dec. 9th, 2013: (1:30-5:30pm) East LA Performing Arts Academy, 4211 Dozier St., Los
Angeles, CA 90063
Dec. 14th, 2013: The Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles, 1238 W 1st St
Los Angeles, CA 90026
Callbacks: January 11th and 12th at Nate Holden Performing Arts Center
Sides: Available on website: http://innercityshakespeare.org/monologues/
Parking: Street Parking
Performance Dates: April 31st, 2014 and May 4th, 2014
Location: Grand Park, 200 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90012
http://grandparkla.org/
Rehearsals: start Jan 2014, Weds. and Sat. up until performance
Compensation: Meals during performance + snacks and possible small stipend for transportation during
rehearsal

Opportunity to work directly with mentors from Julliard, Bristol Old Vic, and the
Royal Shakespeare Academy

Light Snacks during rehearsals

Small stipend for transportation

Lunch during performances.

Credit in the program
>> AT YOUR SCHEDULED AUDITION - PLEASE BRING A HARD COPY OF YOUR HEADSHOT <<
Wardrobe: –
BOYS – long sleeve shirts, no jeans
GIRLS – ankle length skirt or dress
CHARACTERS:
Note: All actors will only read from the roles for PUCK, LYSANDER, HELENA & HERMIA for the
1st audition. The full list of roles are included so that you may be familiar with the different characters in
the play. You will be given the opportunity to prepare for specific role that you are interested in, during
the call back.
PUCK (Male/Female) - Also known as Robin Goodfellow, Puck is Oberon’s jester, a mischievous fairy
who delights in playing pranks on mortals. Though A Midsummer Night’s Dream divides its action
between several groups of characters, Puck is the closest thing the play has to a protagonist. His
enchanting, mischievous spirit pervades the atmosphere, and his antics are responsible for many of the
complications that propel the other main plots: he mistakes the young Athenians, applying the love potion
to Lysander instead of Demetrius, thereby causing chaos within the group of young lovers; he also
transforms Bottom’s head into that of an ass.
PEASEBLOSSOM, COBWEB, MOTE, and MUSTARDSEED (Male/Female) – The fairies ordered by
Titania to attend to Bottom after she falls in love with him.
OBERON (Male) – The king of the fairies, Oberon is initially at odds with his wife, Titania, because she
refuses to relinquish control of a young Indian prince whom he wants for a knight. Oberon’s desire for
revenge on Titania leads him to send Puck to obtain the love-potion flower that creates so much of the
play’s confusion and farce.
LYSANDER (Male) – A young man of Athens, in love with Hermia. Lysander’s relationship with Hermia
invokes the theme of love’s difficulty: he cannot marry her openly because Egeus, her father, wishes her
to wed Demetrius; when Lysander and Hermia run away into the forest, Lysander becomes the victim of
misapplied magic and wakes up in love with Helena.
DEMETRIUS (Male) – A young man of Athens, initially in love with Hermia and ultimately in love with
Helena. Demetrius’s obstinate pursuit of Hermia throws love out of balance among the quartet of
Athenian youths and precludes a symmetrical two-couple arrangement.
EGEUS (Male) – Hermia’s father, who brings a complaint against his daughter to Theseus: Egeus has
given Demetrius permission to marry Hermia, but Hermia, in love with Lysander, refuses to marry
Demetrius. Egeus’s severe insistence that Hermia either respect his wishes or be held accountable to
Athenian law places him squarely outside the whimsical dream realm of the forest.
THESEUS (Male) – The heroic duke of Athens, engaged to Hippolyta. Theseus represents power and
order throughout the play. He appears only at the beginning and end of the story, removed from the
dreamlike events of the forest.
NICK BOTTOM (Male) – The overconfident weaver chosen to play Pyramus in the craftsmen’s play for
Theseus’s marriage celebration. Bottom is full of advice and self-confidence but frequently makes silly
mistakes and misuses language. His simultaneous nonchalance about the beautiful Titania’s sudden love
for him and unawareness of the fact that Puck has transformed his head into that of an ass mark the
pinnacle of his foolish arrogance.
PETER QUINCE (Male) – A carpenter and the nominal leader of the craftsmen’s attempt to put on a play
for Theseus’s marriage celebration. Quince is often shoved aside by the abundantly confident Bottom.
During the craftsmen’s play, Quince plays the Prologue.
FRANCIS FLUTE (Male) – The bellows-mender chosen to play Thisbe in the craftsmen’s play for
Theseus’s marriage celebration. Forced to play a young girl in love, the bearded craftsman determines to
speak his lines in a high, squeaky voice.
ROBIN STARVELING (Male) – The tailor chosen to play Thisbe’s mother in the craftsmen’s play for
Theseus’s marriage celebration. He ends up playing the part of Moonshine.
TOM SNOUT (Male) – The tinker chosen to play Pyramus’s father in the craftsmen’s play for Theseus’s
marriage celebration. He ends up playing the part of Wall, dividing the two lovers.
SNUG (Male) – The joiner chosen to play the lion in the craftsmen’s play for Theseus’s marriage
celebration. Snug worries that his roaring will frighten the ladies in the audience.
PHILOSTRATE (Male) – Theseus’s Master of the Revels, responsible for organizing the entertainment
for the duke’s marriage celebration.
TITANIA (Female) – The beautiful queen of the fairies, Titania resists the attempts of her husband,
Oberon, to make a knight of the young Indian prince that she has been given. Titania’s brief, potioninduced love for Nick Bottom, whose head Puck has transformed into that of an ass, yields the play’s
foremost example of the contrast motif.
HERMIA (Female) – Egeus’s daughter, a young woman of Athens. Hermia is in love with Lysander and is
a childhood friend of Helena. As a result of the fairies’ mischief with Oberon’s love potion, both Lysander
and Demetrius suddenly fall in love with Helena. Self-conscious about her short stature, Hermia suspects
that Helena has wooed the men with her height. By morning, however, Puck has sorted matters out with
the love potion, and Lysander’s love for Hermia is restored.
HELENA (Female) – A young woman of Athens, in love with Demetrius. Demetrius and Helena were
once betrothed, but when Demetrius met Helena’s friend Hermia, he fell in love with her and abandoned
Helena. Lacking confidence in her looks, Helena thinks that Demetrius and Lysander are mocking her
when the fairies’ mischief causes them to fall in love with her.
HIPPOLYTA (Female) – The legendary queen of the Amazons, engaged to Theseus. Like Theseus, she
symbolizes order.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Email submission instructions:
[email protected]
In your email, please include the following information:
1. Subject line of the email should have your NAME, age, school
2. Body of email should include:
• Your name, age, school, and grade
• Parent's name & contact information
• 2 Recent photos (jpg format please) one headshot, one full body shot
• short paragraph about why you want to do Shakespeare
Thank you!